Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Young brothers

Delmon Young is a thinner man this spring — some 30 pounds lighter than he was last season — and he is clearly running better as a result. He had a game-preserving catch last weekend in Kansas City on which the consensus was that the 2009 Young wouldn't have made.

There have been conflicting reports of how the weight came off — improved lifestyle or illness — but it's difficult to believe one can lose 30 pounds through illness and keep it off for months without other changes. Young showed up at Twins Fest in February markedly trimmer, and he's still trim. Bravo to him.

His older brother Dmitri battled excess weight (and other demons — drugs, alcohol, a domestic violence charge) during his playing days. It's easy to forget Dmitri, because he spent his career on forgettable teams, but he was a quality hitter right up to the end. Even at age 34, in his final season, bloated up to (a listed) 298 pounds and troubled by uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes, he hit .280 with an OPB of .394.

I came across this update on the elder Young's life this morning. He made, clearly, a lot of mistakes in his playing days; let us hope that he — and his younger brother — have learned from them.